Valis IV
Mugen Senshi Valis IV'' (夢幻戦士ヴァリスIV, Mugen senshi Varisu fou) – also known as Mugen Senshi Valis 4: Akai Tsuki no Otome, Super Valis IV or Valis 4 – is the last of the main Valis series games. This game's events happen 15 years after those of Valis III and introduce a new protagonist: Lena Brande. Story 'PC-Engine version' Hundreds of years ago, the king Asfal from the Dark World had a son, Galgear, who was driven insane by the power of a ring that he inherited from his father, causing wars and widespread destruction in order to make that power grow constantly. Consequently, the gods imprisoned Galgear and his followers in a giant crystal and sank it under the seas. Many centuries have passed and the crystal emerges to the surface once again with Galgear and his army broken free, bringing an end to the short-lived era of peace enjoyed by Vecanti after Glames' defeat in Valis III. With his reign of chaos reestablished, Glames takes over Vecanti and starts to take over the human world also. Galgear then kidnaps Vecanti's current queen, Valna, and prepares her execution. Meanwhile, a resistance force in the dream world led by Cham tries to fight Galgear's regime but this seems to be useless. Lena, a member of the resistance, decides to rescue Valna along with her sister Amu. Although Cham isn't in accordance with her, she hears Yuuko's voice telling her to let Lena go. Having no other option, Cham teaches them some basic things and then stays behind in Vecanti guarding the city and the survivors. Lena and Amu manage to infiltrate Castle Vanity and defeat the first of Galgear's generals, Dhalgen. Then they find Valna and try to rescue her just to be stopped and injured by Galgear himself, meeting him personally for the first time. Just as he is going to deal the heroines the final blow, they are teleported away by a stranger who reveals himself to be Asfal, Galgear's father himself, who also wants to stop his son's evil regime. He tells Lena that the only thing that can defeat his son is the Valis sword, which isn't in this world anymore, and that they have to reach Valhalla in the sky in order to obtain It from Yuuko, the most recent Valis warrior and current guardian of the sword. After overcoming many obstacles, they meet Yuuko who warns Lena about the things she will have to live as a Valis warrior by showing her memories and asks if she still wants to become a Valis warrior. Lena answers decidedly that she will accept that destiny if she can save the three worlds from Galgear. Yuuko then tests her with satisfactory results and gives her the Valis sword and thus the Valis armor. Afterward, the three protagonists make their way into the human world to reach the giant crystal Galgear uses as his base. After beating many of his henchmen and his last two generals, they find Galgear trying to kill Valna once again. It seems to be too late to save her, but Amu steps in front of Galgear's axe throw, saving Valna's life but being mortally injured. Asfal releases Valna and holds off his son while Amu dies in her sister's arms. Lena then addresses Galgear, saying that she will put an end to him once and for all. Galgear challenges her to come and fight him in his lair, the red moon, where Asfal lived when he was king. Lena and Asfal open a path to the red moon where they fight Galgear, defeating him sucessfully. Asfal and Galgear apologize to each other respectively for all that has happened, after which Galgear dies in the arms of his father. Lena then goes to Amu's grave to pay her last respects and starts to walk toward the horizon, asking herself what will await in the future. 'Super Famicom/Snes version' The story in this version is much more simplified than the PCE version. Although Galgear's backstory remains the same, Lena's story is totally changed. Yuuko gives her the Valis sword at the beginning of the story and she fights alone against Galgear's army as Amu and Asfal were both removed from this version. Gameplay While the gameplay in both versions is basically the same, they also have many different elements. PC-Engine version The PC-Engine version has many improvements and changes in terms of gameplay relative to Valis III. For example, it adds a new Level-up system that boosts the player's HP bar and MP bar. 'Characters' As with Its predecessor, Valis IV also has 3 playable characters, although this time they have more differences in their abilities. *Lena: the new protagonist. As her role implies, she is a balanced character, uses the Valis sword and has the ability to slide though narrow passages. Her spell's element is Thunder. *Amu: Lena's sister. She is slightly faster than her sister and has the lowest weight. She uses a cutter boomerang with the shape of a bird that has a long attack range. She also can double jump in the air to reach higher or long distanced platforms. Her spell's element is Fire. *Asfal: Galgear's father, one of the dark world's ex-kings and assistant to the heroines. He is the biggest and bulkiest of the playable characters, and is therefore also the slowest and heaviest of the group. He has the greatest attack power, although his attack range is limited to the ground because his projectiles glide along its surface. He has a useful immunity to some traps, such as spikes and lasers. He uses a lance trident. His spell's element is ice. Items Many items are new and relate to the new gameplay elements, while others have changed from previous games. *Heal leaf: Recovers 2 units from the HP bar. *Medical herb: Recovers 8 units from the HP bar. *Blue sphere: Increases the level of the MP bar by one. *Red sphere: Increases the attack/HP level by one. *Star: Gives the player temporary invulnerability against enemies and traps. *Sandclock: Adds more time to the time counter. *1up: Gives the player one extra life. *Yuuko's SD face: Increases the player's level to the max. 'Spells' The spell system is also modified once more time. The spell's element varies depending on the character the player is using.With each level obtained, the MP bar becomes larger allowing the use of more powerful spells. -Lena: thunder element. *Level 1: thunder ball going straight forward. *Level 2: thunder ball rounds above Lena. *Level 3: thunders smashes on all the visible screen destroying all enemies there. -Amu: fire element. *Level 1: throws two fire balls to the ground. *Level 2: throws three fire balls in three directions: forward, diagonal up forwards and diagonal down forwards. *Level 3: four big fireballs rotate around the visible screen area, destroying any enemies within range. -Asfal: ice element. *Level 1: throws three wolfheads forward. *Level 2: throws a rounding wolfhead forward. *Level 3: creates two energy walls going forward and backward respectively, destroying any enemies on the visible screen. Super Famicom/ Snes version The gameplay has also major differences in the SNES version. Lena is the only playable character and can't slide here, but she can run faster by tapping the respective directional button two times. She can also equip items to use them a limited quantity of times. 'Items' *Shot emblem: Lena's standard infinite use item. It lets her shot a regular Valis shot by pressing Up+attack button. *Wolf shot emblem: this emblem lets Lena shot a powerful Wolf shot that rushes in the ground (like Asfal in the PCE version).Number of uses: 5 *Multi shot emblem: this emblem lets Lena shot three shots at time. One forward, one up forward and one down forward.Number of uses: 20 *Homming shot emblem: this emblem lets Lena shot a powerful shot that hommes to the nearest enemy. Number of uses: 10 *Armor emblem: this emblem lets Lena use her Valis armor form making her invulnerable temporally.Number of uses: 1 *Heart emblem: Heals a certain amount of the HP bar. Number of uses: 2. Versions The game has mainly two versions. The first one was released in 1991 for the PC-Engine exclusively in Japan. The second version was released in 1992 for the Super Famicom/SNES this time also in america. The PC-Engine version was also adapted in the compilation of Valis Complete and Valis complete Plus for the PC in 2006 and 2011. In the last one (Plus), the SNES version was also included. 'Differences''' *The PC-Engine version has a different gameplay. *The PC-Engine version has an MP bar that the SF/SNES version doesn't has. *The PC-Engine version has 3 playable characters (Lena, Amu and Asfal) while the SF/SNES has only one (Lena). *The PC-Engine version has more levels, cutscenes and characters. *The PC-Engine version has different music of the SF/SNES version. *The SF/SNES version has a multi weapon system for Lena. *In the SF/SNES version, Lena can't slide but she can run faster. *In the SF/SNES version, the player doesn't have more than one life but can continue infinitely. *The SF/SNES version has a score counter. *The SF/SNES version has a ranking system when you finish the game. *The PC-Engine version has voice support. *In the PC-Engine version, Yuuko gives Lena the Valis sword and armor when she beats her tests, while in the SF/SNES version, Yuuko gives the sword to Lena from the beginning. Reception The PC-Engine game was very well received by fans as it reveals many open things from the previous game (like Yuuko's destiny) and introduced better gameplay elements. The Super Famicom/SNES version was given less importance in both Japan and America, but was still considered to be a good version of the story as It improves on gameplay in its own way, aside from the limitations that made the developers discard many things from the original version. Gallery Valis_4_-_1991_-_Shin-Nihon_Laser_Soft front.jpg|PC-Engine CD version box's front Valis_4_-_1991_-_Shin-Nihon_Laser_Soft back.jpg|PC-Engine CD version box's back Valis_4_-_1991_-_Shin-Nihon_Laser_Soft CD.jpg|PC-Engine CD version's CD valis4-sfc.jpg|Super Famicom version box's front 1118113752-00.jpg|Super Famicom version's cartridge !!e!V!OQEGM~$(KGrHqF,!g0E0fGlM2T6BNP3-DEEQw~~_35.JPG|Super Nintendo version Box's front valisiv_1.jpg|PC-Engine CD version's title screen SuperValis4Japan.gif|Super Famicom version's title screen Super Valis IV.gif|Super Nintendo version's title screen v4-1.gif|SF/SNES version gameplay screenshot valis4-1.gif|PC-Engine CD version gameplay screenshot CD_37589E2C-135.gif|PC-Engine CD version cutscene screenshot 1061570-ranking_super.jpg|Super Famicom/Super Nintendo version's Ranking system Trivia *This is the only game in the entire series where Yuuko isn't the protagonist. *This is the only game in the entire series where Lena is the protagonist. *This is the second game of the series to be released for a nintendo console, the first being Valis I for the Famicom/NES. *This is the final game from the main series. *The SF/SNES version of this game is the second game from all the series to display the bosses's status screen before you fight them, the first was Valis II. *This is the second Valis game with Its PCE-CD version non released outside Japan. The first is Valis 1. *Many events from Valis II are shown in Yuuko's flashback. *If you hold the L+R buttons when turning on the SF/SNES until the title screen and start the game, Lena will have blue hair and a Yuuko-like costume. *The PC-Engine version of this game also features a hard mode that, when beaten, will lead you to two secret levels, one of them is the temple of Nizetti from Valis III. *The PC-Engine version also features input codes to level-up your characters and skip levels. *The SF/SNES version is the only game from the series to have a ranking score system. External links *Valis IV on mobygames *Valis IV (PCE) on gamefaqs *Super Valis IV on gamefaqs *Valis IV (PCE) on the brothers duomazov's page *Valis IV on giantbomb's page Category:Games